Wednesday, September 9, 2009

FIVE KEY TIPS FOR BEING AN EFFECTIVE LEADER

Are you the person that goes through life just taking and getting what you get? Or do you want to be the person that embraces what they have worked for knowing what you get is a direct result of the actions you took?According to the World Future Society the essence of leadership is the ability to see and create the future. As a leader you will need to develop the ability to see and create to become a master of your destiny.

In order to gain success in our lives it ultimately comes down to the quality of our communication with others.

There are 5 principles to success that you need to consider and remember, if you want to be the future Martin Luther King, Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, or as John Adair writes ‘become the type of leader who others follow willingly

1. Know Your Outcome.

As I stated earlier you do not want to be the person that just takes what they are given. If you want to be the builder of your dreams then you need to ask yourself what you want. Simply ask what you want to get out of this. This will empower you and shift your focus on what needs to be changed. Be clear on what you want your outcome to be, so that you will not just get what happens to come your way.Another way to look at this s to have a clear purpose, we need to know what, why and how we want to achieve something – always remember if you don’t know where you want to get to, it does not matter what road you take.

2. Take Action.

I am always reminded of a key quote by Will Rogers, “Even if you are on the right track you will get run over if you jus sit there”. There is no substitute for taking action in terms of producing the results that you require to get the outcome that you want.

2. Sensory Awareness.

You need to be aware of whether or not the changes and steps that you have taken are actually making a difference. You need to be able to see results and outcomes that you expected. You need to set up a monitoring system to check are the changes working and if not do something about it-some one once told me ‘the definition of insanity is doing the same things and expecting different results’

3. Change Behavior.

Inevitably if you have not been producing results you need to analyze where the problems are and find solutions to achieve your goals. You need to be willing to have behavior flexibility.

5. Operate from a physiology and psychology of excellence.Imagine if you were on a door to door sales call. You would not stand there with a frown, you would not start mumbling and you would not have your head and shoulders slouched. You need to be confident, speaking clearly and enthusiastic. If you want to produce results you need to hold your body in a way that’s going to do that. You must always remember in any communication there will always be a big chicken and a little chicken, we must always exude confidence and be the big chicken.

Finally just think of any of the good managers or leaders you have ever worked with and ask yourself, why you believe they were a good leader. The chances are some of the answers will be ‘they knew what they wanted---they were excellent at communicating---they were generally upbeat in their approach---they were not afraid to try things.So remember if you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you always got.Do not be afraid to take action to build your own hopes and dreams if you don’t you will always be marching to the tune of some one else’s drum and it may not take you where you want to go.BY: Frank O'Toolehttp://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/learn_5_key_tips_for_being_an_effective_leaderSEARCH BY: ALMA PAHANAY